Love Isn't Born It's Made (SwanQueen)
by The Flying Ostrich
Summary: A SwanQueen story centering on the Charming Swan Mills Family. When Regina discovers that Emma Swan is her true love, it takes more courage to deal with than she has inside her. She must find this courage in the people she never thought she would turn to; her enemies-turned-family, the Charmings. As they battletowards a happy ending, they all discover love isnt born its made.
1. The Storybook

The words filled her ears like fire; they were powerful, beautiful, frightening.

They sent a bold of energy cascading through her body and she couldn't find her breath.

Full eyes searched her son's face.

The young boy looked alive. His eyes shone with a light and innocence that was so common in young children and those good at heart. It made her chest feel warm; he was fourteen now and that light was getting scarcer and scarcer. She wanted to make him happy; she wanted this light to last in his eyes forever. But she knew that was impossible and it only added to the sense of fear that was slowly creeping up on her.

"Mom," Henry said, his whole body dancing with energy and life. "I can't believe it."

And Regina couldn't believe it either. She'd always known it; she had felt in growing in her chest since the day that annoying blonde had shown up at her doorstep. She had felt that sickening, wonderfully longful ache growing inside her every day for over four years. She'd known it, but she had denied it. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. It sent her into panic.

And yet, the thing her son had told her just a moment ago had sent a rush through her that Regina Mills hadn't felt in _years_ : her heart had started beating again.

Henry could see the disbelief etched across his mother's usually so carefully masked face, so he repeated the words again to make sure she understood the full scope of their meaning.

"Mom," he repeated. "Emma is your true love."

And Regina couldn't help it; she smiled. It was a smile full of fear, and yet so full of hope. She did the impossible; she let her so-carefully-built-walls crumble down for just a moment and let all of her light shine through. Her heart was beating rapidly, rapidly, rapidly, trying so desperately to figure out if she was more happy or terrified by the news. She let herself smile, just for a moment longer, and her watery eyes shone brightly.

Henry looked over his mother's expression and his own face broke into a goofy grin. The special light in his eyes only shone brighter, brighter, brighter. This was the only thing he could ever ask for—a family. Operation Charming Swan Mills family was finally piecing together. It had taken four years, but it was finally piecing together.

Henry had never seen his mom smile this much. "How do you know?" she asked, although he had already told her three times.

He pulled out the storybook again. "It just appeared today," he said, opening the book to the very last page.

The illustration was gorgeous. Two women—the blond and the brunette—stood facing each other, the years of want and longing and ache and pain and love etched so clearly onto their faces as they edged towards a kiss.

Henry read the chapter outloud. " _And so, after years of denial, the Savior realized that she had fallen hopelessly in love with a gorgeous woman known to all the land as "the Evil Queen". The Savior had been sent to save Storybrooke, but as she stared into the face of the woman before her, she knew that all was not as it seemed. She hadn't been sent there just to save the city; she had been sent to save The Evil Queen from the most dangerous villain of all—herself. The Savior stared into the Queen's eyes for a moment more, before finally leaning in, capturing her lips in her own, and for not the first time they produced magic. A spark flew out from between their lips, filling up both of their veins with the contents of their very souls, and spilling out towards the world in a blinding light-magic known to the world as True Love's Kiss. They wrapped their arms around each other, not ever wanting to let go, and the Evil Queen and her Savior lived Happily Ever After."_

A cute little grin played across Henry's lips after he read the last line, snapping the book shut with a sharp sound. His mom's eyes were watering and he felt a sense of pride warming his heart. That was truly all he had ever wanted—his mom to have a happy ending at last.

He set the book down, clearly noticing how overwhelmed his mother was. He took her in his arms, holding onto her tightly, and the "evil queen" nearly collapsed into his arms. She buried her face into his shoulder, becoming unbelievably nostalgic as she realized that her little boy was growing up. Look at this: after years and years of her comforting him, he was finally the one providing refuge for her. She was filled with a sense of overwhelmingly bittersweet pride as she drank in his warm, good smell, and held onto him a bit too tight.

"It's okay, Mom," he told her gently.

She closed her eyes, drinking in the words. _It's okay._

"I know that you're scared," he continued, gently rubbing her back as she had done to him so many times before. "I know that you're scared to love again, because every time you open up your heart you just end up getting hurt more. I know that you're scared to show someone your soul, because it's so scratched up and scarred and you're afraid that it can't love anymore."

Regina's finger's dug into Henry's flannel shirt, his words hitting so very close to her heart.

"But it's okay," he said gently. "You don't need to be scared anymore."

He moved them apart, looking into his mom's face, his eyes shining with such an adult sense of confidence and security. When had he grown up so much? Where had all the time gone?

"Emma loves you. I know she does. It shines in her eyes the way it shines in yours."

"What if she runs?" Regina suddenly blurted out. Her throat burned with the word vomit. She shouldn't have shown her weakness. She couldn't let her son see how scared and vulnerable she was.

But he already knew that. He held onto her tighter, smiling at her gently, and Regina couldn't help but think how much like David Charming himself he really was.

"She won't. I think she's found something worth staying for."

He smiled at her, and Regina found the strength to softly smile back, but she wondered to herself if his words were really true or still full of a childish sense of optimism.

Her soul was churning as it always did when she felt love creeping into it. It writhed and slithered inside her core, screaming at her bleeding brain: _please don't fall in love again_ , it warned her. _We'll end up getting hurt again. Whenever you show anyone the real us, they only end up getting hurt. Loving us is dangerous._

Regina knew that. She knew it too well. Loving her _was_ dangerous. It was dangerous to herself and to whoever fell in love with her.

And yet, even despite this well-rehearsed worry squirming in her chest, Regina still felt that dangerous, hideous feeling of hope.

 _Maybe no one would get hurt this time._

She pulled her son back towards her, kissing the crown of his head softly.

She smiled gently, inhaling a calming breath.

 _Maybe, this time, no one will get hurt._


	2. Operation Charming Swan Mills Family

**_Chapter Two~_**

Regina thought that she had done a pretty good job of dealing with the current circumstances. She hadn't killed anyone, or for that matter ripped anyone's heart out, including her own.

But what she had to do right now… well, she wasn't quite sure how she was going to cope through this.

It had been quite a surprise (to say the least) when Henry had bounded down the stairs that morning before school and told her cheerfully "You're going to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner tonight."

She raised one sharp eyebrow. As if he could make that decision for her. "Oh?"

"Yeah," he said, smirking and trying not to choke a little as he sipped his glass of orange juice. "You can't cancel."

"Oh can't I?" said Regina starkly, her arched eyebrow growing steadily higher on her forehead.

"Yeah, you can't," Henry replied, his smirk growing even cockier. Like mother like son—it was the battle of arched eyebrow and smirk.

Regina's eyebrow ran out of space on her head to grow higher. "And why can't I?" she said, trying hard to sound unamused.

"Cuz. I've already told them that they should expect you at seven. You know Grandma, the kitchen is bound to be a mess already."

Regina couldn't deny that.

Henry began slyly grabbing his school bag and putting on his shoes, preparing for a quick exit before his final blow.

Quickly and carefully, he added, "And besides…" (a clear of his throat to prepare—just in case the Evil Queen decided to make an entrance and throw a fireball at him) "I've uh, told them that you have something to tell them."

"You what?" It was worse than yelling. Her tone was as cold as ice, and as her eyes found him, they were as sharp as daggers.

He gulped, slowly heading backwards towards the door.

"Yeah. I told them that you have something to tell them about the storybook. I think they should know. But uh anyway, I think I heard the bus pull up soo…" and with that he dashed out the door, pulling it closed with an echoing bang.

To Henry, it was all fun and games. He jumped onto the school bus with such a goofy grin playing across his face that his friends had to tease him about what was the matter.

He couldn't believe it. Operation Charming Swan Mills Family was finally in progress. He was about to have a family.

But for the Mayor of Storybrooke, her only companion was silence. It echoed around her, reaching into her bones and sending a chill through her spine.

She wanted so badly to be angry; she could deal with anger.  
How could her son do this? To tell Snow and Prince Charming of all people… It was ludicrous. And he had clearly overstepped his boundaries. If anyone were to choose when to tell the Charmings, it should have been Regina's choice. She shouldn't be forced into this.

But the words sounded cold and rehearsed as they played through her brain.

She wasn't mad. In fact, she was scared.

A fear had paralyzed her chest, and she leaned onto the counter, a weakness suddenly consuming her frail body. If anything, Regina Mills was scared. If she thought long enough—if she were to replay all of her memories throughout all the years that had passed—she would have realized one important fact: Regina Mills always was, and always had been, terrified.

She drew in a shaky breath, suddenly feeling numb and helpless as fingernails dug into the counter.

How could she tell the Charmings?

She asked herself this again, a few hours later, as she stood outside their tiny apartment door.

She wasn't even sure it was true. What did the stupid storybook know? After all, it was just a book. She didn't even love Emma Swan.

Images flashed through her mind.

Blonde hair. Rosy cheeks. Face red from laughter. Green eyes. Scarlet leather jacket. Yellow bug. Sacrifice.

After images, words appeared, as carefree and flowing as water.

 _"My happy ending isn't a man". "I need you". "I know that look". "Our Son". "I believe her". "I was looking for you to be my friend". "You may not be strong enough but together we are". "I'm Henry's birth mother." "True love is sacrifice". "You've worked too hard to have your happiness destroyed."_

She closed her eyes miserably. Of course she loved Emma.

She knocked on the door.

No one answered. Maybe she could just leave. Maybe this was all a trap. Henry hadn't really called the Charmings, it had just been the only way to get her there there, right? That was it, she thought, and was about to leave.

But she knew it was only her brain's lousy excuse; she could hear David calling for Mary Margaret to get the door, and smelled warm food wafting from the crack underneath the door.

There were footsteps and the fear finally reached Regina's lungs, blocking air from reaching their passages.

Anxiety seized her chest like sharp claws, its nails digging into the fragile, tender flesh of her soul.

She was afraid. She was afraid because admitting this to the Charmings was admitting it to herself. If she told the Charmings about the page in the Storybrooke—if she told the Charmings that their daughter was her true love—Regina Mills would finally accept that fact herself. And acceptance was one step closer to someone getting hurt.

Acceptance was one step closer to taking action. And taking action always led to heartbreak.

She couldn't have her heart broken again. It was barely even alive, and to be honest she wasn't sure she even remembered what loving someone felt like.

But even more than that, she couldn't break _Emma's_ heart. She couldn't bear to see Emma hurting the way she felt inside.

The door swung open, and the two brown-eyed women looked over each other.

Regina did her very best to contort her face into its hard, unreadable mask.

But Snow White was the one person who had always been able to see through it. She could see Regina's fear leaking through the mask. It was palpable, and she could almost smell it. She watched helplessly as Regina's bleeding soul was nearly oozing out through her eyes.

She did the only thing Snow White knew how to help Regina: she ignored what was clearly meant to be ignored, and instead smiled warmly, inviting her stepmother into her house as if nothing was wrong. With Regina, she would open up when she was ready.

The silence was unbearable. It creeped up her spine slowly. Gently, it dug its claws into her brain. Almost sweetly, it took over her thoughts, making her head swim.

Regina tapped her nails across the smooth surface of the wooden table, the steady rhythm soothing her racing heart. Why was she here? Why was she doing this?

Dinner had been fine. Eating was a suitable excuse for silence. They talked awkwardly about Henry and school and mayorial duties and once or twice about Emma. The Charmings decided that they would let Regina bring up the forbidden subject when she was ready, but Regina was clearly avoiding said topic at all costs.

Snow White had taken the dishes to the kitchen almost fifteen minutes ago, and they sat around the table in an uncomfortable silence, watching the tablecloth in mock interest.

Regina couldn't handle it anymore. She was going to throw up if something didn't happen. The two things she couldn't handle were pounding through her ears right now—and those were silence and fear.

Clearing her throat, she moved her chair back suddenly as if ready to stand up. "I should go," she said starkly, eyes still glued to the table.

Mary Margaret and David shared startled glances.

"Oh, I have some cobbler chilling in the fridge if you'd like some," Mary Margaret offered, her voice always so cheerful and sweet, even if it was a clear attempt to make Regina stay and talk to them.

"No, that's quite alright, I have… things to attend to." With the sorry excuse, the mayor raised herself out of the chair, grabbing her bag.

"Regina." The tone had lost its cheerfulness and was now soft and low and gentle. "Please sit down."

Regina looked into Snow's eyes. It was a mistake. She couldn't stand what she saw in them. Care. Love. Sympathy. It made her sick. Anyone who ever saw her in those terms would only ever wound up being disappointed. That's all Regina Mills had ever been truly good at. Disappointing those who loved her.

She looked down at the table, the bile rising in her throat. The thoughts she had tried so hard to avoid all evening rushed through her frenzied brain.

She was in love with Emma Swan.  
She was talking to Emma Swan's parents.  
The Charmings were trying to get her to tell them.  
The Charmings cared about Regina.  
Regina cared about the Charmings.

She sighed. "I can't," she tried again, weaker this time, "I have to…" but her words faltered, because of course all Regina really wanted was to face her fears. When Regina ran, it was only attempt to see if anyone cared enough to make her stay.

Snow leaned across the table closer to Regina. It was a movement that was small and almost unnoticeable, and Regina wouldn't have paid any attention to it if she had not been so desperate.

"We know," Snow said softly. "Henry told us that something appeared in the storybook today. He didn't tell us what exactly," she hurried, studying Regina's worried expression. "He wanted you to be the one to tell us that. All that we know is that it's important, and that it's hurting you. And if it's hurting… well," Mary Margaret suddenly shifted her eyes down, looking away shyly. "We can help, Regina. Let us help you."

Regina looked upon the couple, appalled tears rising up her throat. They were so infuriating. _Why_ did they insist upon caring about her? After all she had put them through? Didn't they realize that she wasn't worthy of all their love?

Regina sat back down, on the edge of her chair. She looked down at the table.

"I…" she started, but she didn't know how to finish. She stared down heavily at the table cloth, and the colors began swimming together. She felt sick, and the dinner she had eaten just a moment ago was in danger of making its way back up.

"I…"

"What's wrong?" David added in, one of the few words he had said all evening. Always David, he would listen intently, and only add his input if he thought it mattered. He thought that whatever was so clearly bothering Regina mattered.

Regina wrung her fingers together, nearly pulling them out of their sockets.

Everything was closing in on her. Her fear was strangling her vocal cords, making it impossible to talk. The tiny walls of the apartment were making her feel like a trapped animal. And worst of all, the Charming's worried, concerned, and always caring eyes were trained so carefully on her.

Again, for the second time in two days, Regina's walls broke down. She'd spent years and years building them up and yet lately she couldn't seem to ever keep them sturdy. They were cracked and unrepairable, although she tried her best to repair them anyway.

Her eyes were deep and full as she finally forced them to meet the Charmings'. Her eyes were screaming at them. She was trying to force them to understand that they shouldn't love her. She tried to warn them. She tried to make them understand that all she was capable of was hurt and heartbreak. She screamed at them internally, and prayed for them to break her gaze. If they broke the staring contest, it would mean that they understood and that they would give up on loving her.  
But although she was _certain_ they understand what she was telling them silently, all that happened was that their gaze remained unbroken. They held on just as tightly as she had, and they still poured out their care and concern for her.

 _The stupid fucking idiots_ , she thought. They'd never learn. They'd always keep on loving. _That love is their downfall_ , she thought bitterly, but the truth was that she only thought it because she longed to be like them more than anything in the world. She wished that she could love others without consequence.

Drawing in a deep breath, she told herself that she could do this. She could tell them. She could admit it to them. She could admit it to herself.

The frightened tears were slowly rising up her throat, and her eyes glistened in the sinking light of the approaching evening.

Snow looked at her stepmother from across the table, her heart aching from how broken she was. She steadied her jaw, trying to look strong, although it broke her to see her stepmother this way.

"Regina," she said kindly, prodding the older woman further.

"I…." Deep breath. The word vomit was making its way up her throat. Any second now. "I'm in love with Emma."

There was another moment of silence.

And then… the unbelievable.

Snow let out a joy-filled little laugh that sounded like tiny little bells tinkling in the breeze.

Regina's face flashed with anger. She wanted to lash out, to call Snow awful names, to throw fireballs anywhere she could reach and light the whole place on fire.

But that was only because, again, Regina was scared.

"Why are you laughing?" Regina said in a venomous voice, doing her best to drown her fear and embarrassment in seething venom.

Snow's face softened dramatically. Her eyes oozed with something soft and sweet. She realized her inappropriate behavior, but she couldn't hide her disbelief. Was she the only one who had seen how obvious it was? "Oh Regina," she breathed gently. "I know."

The two words changed something in Regina's eyes. The anger melted away, and the Evil Queen had left the table. All that was left was again a raw, beautiful woman and the couple seated before her.

"You know?" asked Regina, disbelief clear in her voice.

Snow hummed in reply, leaning forward softly, her eyes deep and full with a motherly sense of reassurement. "I've always known," she said gently. "I've known since the day you gave up the thing you loved the most—since the day you let Emma and Henry go away to New York to give them a happy ending. Love is sacrifice, and I've never seen anyone sacrifice for each other the way you and Emma do. I've never seen anyone live for each other so freely, care for each other so deeply, protect each other so openly. You've raised a son together, you've defeated all odds together, you've created magic together, you've helped each other learn and grow and become these amazing women who constantly do anything and everything in the world for their son Henry. You two women—your love, your care, your sacrifices—you've changed Henry's life. And, Regina, I'm not ashamed to admit that you've changed mine, too."

Snow's voice was genuine and her eyes flooded with feeling. David remained quiet, but watched both women in awe as he observed the exchange. To witness the way these broken people had become a family was truly beautiful.

"But she's your daughter," Regina said, and Snow had never heard her voice sound so weak and vulnerable and afraid. "And I'm… I'm…"

"Reinga," Snow finished. "Don't you dare say you're the Evil Queen. You aren't her anymore. You're Regina. I know you, and you feel with your whole soul. I can't imagine ever wanting my daughter to be with anyone that can't love her with their entire soul." She lowered her voice one more caring, gentle octave. "I know you. You'll love her with everything you have in you. And that's all I can ever ask."

But the anxiety was still clawing at Regina's chest. "But.. that's not all. Im not just in love with her… she's… the storybook…. Emma's my true love." Regina quickly looked down at her lap, her chest rising and falling quickly after her outburst of words.

A smile grew across Snow's face.

She reached across the table, and she grabbed Regina's hand. To her surprise, Regina didn't pull back. Instead, she held onto the hand tightly, for once letting someone she loved and trusted comfort her.

"I know," Snow said in a whisper. "You haven't told me anything that I haven't already known from the very beginning. Don't you think I know true love when I see it?"

Regina felt a small smile begin, but didn't let it show.

Snow squeezed her hand tighter. "Look at me," she said, and Regina obeyed. She looked deep into Snow's eyes and saw something she had never truly noticed before. She noticed the way Snow's eyes shone with hope. Not just a hope in general, but a hope for her, Regina, in particular. She saw the way she was rooting for her, how she was rooting for her and Emma, and noticed the deep and unconditional love hidden deep within her eyes. And that love was not just for Emma as Regina had always thought, but for her, too. That love was for Snow's entire family, and that included Regina.

"You don't have anything to worry about. Emma loves you. I know she does. It shines in her eyes the way it shines in yours." Regina wondered in awe how on earth Snow's words could be the very same as Henry's. "Don't be afraid to let someone love you. It isn't as hard as you think it is, you know," she added with a small, knowing smile. "I think you're quite an amazing woman," Snow said, squeezing Regina's hand.

The Evil Queen let out a shaky laugh, shoving the woman playfully, as she rolled her eyes in embarrassment and Snow giggled.

David smiled gently, wondering in awe how on earth they had all come this far.

The sun set gently below the horizon, sending orange light flooding through the window, filling the room with the same sense of warm love that was so palpably flowing between the people in it.

Regina locked eyes with Snow, sending her a silent 'thank you', and Snow sent it back. Their hands felt warm in each other's, and they wondered why it had taken them so long to regain the love for each other they had once lost.


	3. The Urge to Run

**_Chapter Three~_**

Emma Swan woke up exactly the way she had woken for the past six nights in a row.

Her eyes flashed open, heart beating rapidly, chest writhing with an unexplainable fear.

Adrenaline flowed freely through her veins, her muscles throbbed with every breath, and Emma Swan realized for the first time in her life that even in sleep, she could never escape her need to run.

She had stayed in Storybrooke for four years. For four years she had been happy. For over for years, she had been building something that she was too afraid to speak the name of, something that she had never had before—Emma Swan was building a home.

But even after 1,460 days of bliss she could still not escape her need to run.

She drew in a deep breath, feeling so utterly and desperately alone in the darkness. It closed in on her, drew its long tendrils around her neck… she was trapped. She needed to escape.  
She needed to run.

Telling her lungs again to breathe, she slowly sat up in bed, drinking in the cold night air and trying to tell herself that she was okay.

But she wasn't okay. Emma Swan was scared, and there really wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

She got out of bed, pacing nervously, heartrate ever increasing and stomach tying and untying itself in an undying rhythm. She stopped just before the unsheathed kitchen window, staring out into the night, fingers gladly finding their way to her mouth. She bit down hard, nibbling the already well-chewed nails.

Her mind began to glaze over, her thoughts slow as she again replayed what Henry had said to her this morning—the cause of this panic attack that had slowly been creeping up on her all day long.

"Hey Mom?" Henry had asked as they drove in the cramped little yellow bug on the way to school.

"Yeah kid?" Emma croaked in a groggy voice, practically chugging down a mug of coffee. Even after four years of driving the kind to school on most days, Emma was still not a morning person.

"Are you happy?" The question was so unexpected that Emma choked on her coffee a bit. She pulled the bug over to the side of the road.

She looked over at Henry, green eyes meeting brown. Emma's pupils enlarged in awe as she noticed how grown up her son was. Fourteen years. It had been fourteen years since she'd given him up.

"Of course I am," she said seriously, never once breaking his gaze. "Why are you asking me that? Is something bothering you?"

Henry looked down at the storybook he had in his hands. In the dim morning light, she couldn't quite tell if they were shaking or if it was her imagination.

"It's just that… this appeared in the book today." He flipped the pages, being careful not to show Emma the page he had shown his other mom. That page, he felt, was just for Regina to see. And this entry, the newest one that had appeared this morning, was just for Emma.

The illustration made Emma's chest seize up with the fear that she fought almost daily to keep down. It was like someone pulling a trigger. Someone had let up the fence that held in the beast, and she couldn't do anything to put it back in its pen.

She searched Henry's face, and saw genuine fear and concern in his eyes.

She took the book from his hands, looking again at the picture.

She could barely make out the illustration beneath the rain the artist had depicted, and yet she still knew at once what it was showing her.

"Why are you running?" Henry asked, his voice lower and more serious than Emma had ever heard before. Her eyes began tearing up. She was never supposed to hear this question.

"The picture could be wrong kid."

"The book is never wrong." He was angry now. He ripped the book from her still-open hands, stabbing a finger onto the page. "This is you. And this is your bug. And you're running. You're leaving Storybrooke. Why? Why aren't you happy?"

And as she looked into those huge brown eyes, the ones that reminded her so much of Regina, the ones that showed her his whole soul, the ones that oozed out with anger and worry and love and _begged_ her for an answer, she couldn't find the words to explain to him that that's exactly _why_ she wanted to run. She wanted to run _because_ she was happy. She hadn't been happy in years, and now that she finally was, being happy scared her.

She had never felt this way before. She had never been cared for, been loved. And although she knew it was genuine, her mind couldn't help but whisper to her that it was only temporary. Emma was used to being temporary. It was only time before they'd abandon her. It was only time before she screwed everything up, because even though Emma Swan knew that she was being irrational, everything inside of her knew that all she was ever good at was screwing everything up.

She loved them all. Mary Margaret. David. Henry. Even Regina. She loved them. This was her family.

And she needed to leave. (The force of the decision pulled at her with magnetic force) She needed to leave before she ruined everything, before she hurt them, before they looked at her with the same sad and disappointed eyes every "family" that turned her away before had.

Emma gulped, not daring to look into her sons eyes.

He got out of the car, slamming the door behind him. He would walk to school; he couldn't be with his mother right now. He wasn't even sure that she loved him anymore.

But what Henry didn't know was just how much she loved him.

It was the thunder that broke her out of the flashback. It was deep and low and long and sent a shiver running up her back. The thrill of the sound, the energy of the explosion of thunder, was sent throbbing through the apartment, filling her veins with still more adrenaline.

And Emma Swan decided to run.

 _She had to leave behind the people she loved the most._ That's what she told herself as she stuffed anything she could grab into a small, worn satchel.

 _She had to leave before she disappointed them_ , she said to herself as she rushed down two flights of stairs.

 _She had to leave_ , she uttered repeatedly in her mind as she ran down the flooding sidewalk, _before she had the chance to hurt anyone._

She opened the door to her bug, and was about to climb in when something stopped her. She wasn't sure what it was at first, until she heard it again.

"Emma!"

Just barely audible over the thriving storm.

Her heart was aching, drowning inside her chest, and she thought about jumping into the bug and driving away before she even looked to see who was calling her.

" _Emma!"_ The voice was desperate, alive with the same exact fear Emma felt clawing at her this very moment.

She turned around, and never before had she been so relieved to see someone.

Regina stood at the opposite end of the street. Wet, raven-black hair hung in dark inky strands around her shoulders, her eyes were alive with so many emotions that for once Emma couldn't distinguish them, and her wet face was shining and beautiful in the moonlight. It was the first time Emma had ever seen her not wearing makeup, and although Regina would have said that she looked like a mess, Emma would remember this as the moment that Regina had never looked more beautiful or alive.

Unsaid words and throbbing thoughts and aching breaths were soaring through Regina's body as she walked towards Emma, so terrified that every step she took closer to her true love would be the last.

"Where are you going?" She called to the blonde, afraid that she was already too late.

But Emma was frozen in place. Her eyes were still trained on the work of art before her, and her soul ached at the thought of leaving all of this behind.

Another roar of thunder, and the fear came back to Emma as clear as the water that poured around her.

"Anywhere," She said, in a voice so small and terrified that it was unrecognizable. Regina's eyes were full of fear and pain. Who was this woman? What had happened to her strong, brave Emma Swan?

Regina took a step closer, and Emma took a step back. She looked into Regina's eyes, seeing the fear and pain there, and took another step back, terrified. She was the one who had inflicted this on Regina. She was causing her pain, the pain she was so inevitably bound to inflict one way or another.

She made one more step back, towards her car, just as Regina reached out for her.

"I'm sorry," said Emma, and if it had not been raining Regina would have been able to see the tears pouring out of her eyes.

There was a raw, powerful energy hanging thickly in the air, and someone might have mistaken it for the thunder. Regina knew better. She had always been able to feel Emma's emotions, her soul per se, with an acute sense.

She'd never felt a time that Emma had been so desperate, and the desperation was contagious. It flowed through Regina's body, and a passion and a fire and a fear that she had never felt before roared through her. It was happening again. The dread hit her stomach like a weight. She had known this day would come. Her heart was breaking… how could this happen? She was losing love, again.

"I'm so sorry," said Emma again, for a lack of better words to describe the turmoil occurring inside of her.

"Let me help you," said Regina

And Emma said, "Let me go."

"You didn't let me go. You saved me. Now I save you."

"I can't"

"Why?"

"I'm scared"

"I'm scared too"

Regina's eyes bore into Emma's, trying to make her see sense.

"We all love you, Emma"

"And that's why I have to leave!"

The woman finally broke down, almost collapsing onto the frame of her bug.

"Don't you see?" she spit out, and Regina had wondered if there was a bit of the Evil Queen in Emma, too. After all, all the Evil Queen had ever been was scared and small and hurting. "Don't you see? That's why I have to leave. I'll only ever hurt you, all of you."

"Please stay," Regina said, her fright escaping her poor soul in droplets of water that collected on her long eyelashes. "Please."

Emma took another step back.

"Emma, _please!_ I'm asking you. I've lost love before, and I can't lose it again."

She didn't say 'I'm in love with you'. Instead, she said 'don't leave me'. And to Emma, those words meant so much more than all the 'I love you's in the world. Because really, when Emma thought about it, the only reason she ever ran was to see if she was worth enough to anyone for them to make her stay.

Regina was the first person that had ever wanted her to stay.

Emma took a step closer.

"Please," begged Regina, "Don't let me lose you." And Regina began crying. All those years of heartbreak and hurt came leaking out of her eyes in tears. The loathing, the longing, the lust, and the love she felt for Emma exploded out of her system as powerfully as the storm around her.

Emma took another step closer.

Before she could give a direct answer, there was another voice calling her name above the storm.

"Emma!"

Two soft, warm arms were thrown around her, and Emma breathed in her mother's scent as she was enveloped in her arms.

Another person that needed her to stay.

"Oh, Emma!" Snow cried, and Emma hated herself as she saw fresh tears in her mother's eyes and the fear of losing her child for the second time. "Henry warned us that something like this might happen, luckily Regina was able to be the first one to get here."

At the mention of her name, Emma looked back at the brunette woman standing behind them.

They shared a powerful gaze, and Mary Margaret noticed, taking a step back, her worry melting away slightly. Snow looked into her stepdaughter's eyes, and never before had they looked so full. She looked into Emma's eyes and the same glint was shining behind the green.

She smiled softly to herself as she realized what must have just occurred. They'd realized it, finally, hadn't they? Those two, silly, love-struck, blind, idiots.

Snow backed away slightly, letting the pair resume their longing gaze.

In that moment, Regina and Emma realized something about themselves.

They realized that their fears and their actions went hand-in-hand. The thing they feared the most was the exact same thing that they were most likely to do;

Emma was terrified of being abandoned, so instead she ran.

Regina's worst fear was being hurt, so she inflicted pain onto others instead.

They stared into each other's eyes, realizing this fact not only about themselves, but also about each other.

Regina spoke to Emma, not in words, but words were not needed to communicate the message or its reply. They knew.

"I won't leave you," said Regina with her soul-filled eye,.

And "I won't hurt you," was Emma's reply.

The rain softened down to a gentle patter as the silent vow left a heavy promise in the fresh, clean air of just-after-a-storm.

The storm had _finally_ passed; four years was a long time indeed.


	4. Something Worth Staying For

**_Chapter Four~_**

There was hardly anything in the room, except for one particularly beautiful woman who stood in its center. The only companion to the woman was the long, thin window that she seemed to be looking out of. She moved nervously; sharp and neatly-done nails picked viciously at the skin on her fingers. The light of the sun played across the floor gladly, dancing up the walls and splashing down her dress in great embers of light. But the Queen paid no notice. Her eyes gazed far off, far beyond the limit of the horizon stretched out before her.

There was a knock on the door, and the Queen spun around, turning to face the intruder. Her mind went blank, and it was then that her heart began throwing itself against her ribcage, trying desperately to escape from it. Was it time already?

"Regina?" Called a gentle voice, still hidden behind the door. She knew that voice at once. It had been the voice of her enemy for so long.

Regina walked towards the door, being careful not to dirty her long, elegant gown. It felt strange to be dressed like this again. It reminded her of a life she wanted so desperately to leave behind, and also gave her the courage to give herself a chance at a new one. She opened the door, and Charming stood there looking as proud as a parent on the first day of school.

They looked over each other for a moment, a mix of emotions scattering through both of their brains. Decades ago Regina wouldn't have been surprised if Charming had knocked on her door and tried to kill her, and now they just stood there with warm eyes and heavy hearts. How the times had changed.

"You look gorgeous," he said softly, and then stepped inside the room, not giving Regina a chance to respond. Which was good, because Regina was speechless, not being used to complements (especially not those from Prince Charming himself).

She shut the door and turned again to face him and Charming was still wearing his idiotic grin.

"What are you smiling about?" Regina snapped, all the pressure that was bubbling up inside of her reaching its unloading point.

"This," he said, gesturing vaguely around the room as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "All the chapters our story could have, and I would never have envisioned that it would end like this."

He stared at her again, his eyes shining with nostalgia.

But Reinga didn't share his sentiment. To make a long story short, the Queen was panicking. She wasn't used to happy endings, and this surely couldn't be one, either. She could feel danger pooling around her at every corner, and even though she knew that it was in her head, she had grown bitter and cold from the short time she'd been waiting inside her room. The panic was slowly clawing its sharp tendrils into her ribcage, so she had put on the only defensive mechanism she knew of; building up barriers.

"This isn't the end, Charming," she said coldly. "It's not like our story just ends after the happy 'ending'. It goes on, and we have no idea what it will bring."

She turned away from him angrily, her posture stiff and motionless. He tried to step closer to her, to understand what was bothering her.

"But isn't that the exciting part?" He reasoned. "This is the beginning of a new chapter, hopefully what will be the best chapter of our lives."

"Or the worst," she said. Her words were meant to be cold, but Charming could hear the unmistakable fear behind them. She wasn't intimidating right now. In fact, she was nothing but weak and vulnerable, and he wondered how many times in his pays he had mistaken her cries for help as animosity.

She turned around, and the way her eyes expanded and shone only cemented his worry for her. "Why would it end badly?" he asked, the kindness in his voice making the exhausted Queen's eyes water.

"Because," she said, her tone again betraying her with a tremor. "This is the point in the story where you think that maybe, _finally_ , the anti-hero will get their happy ending. Things will work out, and she'll live happily ever after. Well guess what Charming? I'm not an anti-hero. I'm a villain. We don't get happy endings. We end up watching the people we love get hurt, and this can only end in one way. I'll only ever end up hurting Emma."

David's face was soft and sorrowful, and so full of pity that Regina couldn't stand to look at him. She turned away, her throat closing up at rapid speed, although she couldn't tell if it was from panic or tears or both.

"You're not a villain." She envied the confidence in his voice. He said the words as if he lived by them. "I didn't know that at first, but I didn't know _you,_ either. And… I understand now. I understand _you_ now. You're not a villain, Regina, and this _is_ your happy ending. The only way it's going to end badly is if you let it."

Tears began pooling up on Regina's eyelashes. She was too exhausted to feel loathing for her tears, so she instead let them splash onto her cheeks and down her dress.

"I'm the Evil Queen," she whispered. "I'm also Regina. But I _am_ the Evil Queen, and I'm terrified that she won't let Regina be happy."

David looked down at the shorter figure, and never before had she looked so small. He felt a raging pity flash through his chest, and he became incredibly angry. He was furious. He hated the world, he hated the circumstances that had made Regina hate herself so much, and he hated the fate that had brought her to her knees.

He stepped towards her, grabbing her hand gently but tightly in his own, forcing her to meet his eyes.

"Yes, you are the Evil Queen. And, yes, you are also Regina. But both of those sides are _you,_ and I have come to trust and accept and love all of you. You are black and white, and you also are lovely shades of gray that make you so alive; you are the most wonderful mother to my grandson, you are becoming the stepmother my wife has always needed, you are my friend, and more than anything you are going to make the _most amazing wife to my daughter."_

They didn't dare to break each other's gaze, David because he was scared of letting Regina go and Regina because she was afraid that she'd break if he did.

A shaky breath was her only reply.

"I promise you Regina," his voice full of confidence, "that this wedding is going to be spectacular, but that it won't be that last happy memory of your life. This is the start of an amazing chapter, and you're right; it's not the end. There are so many good chapters waiting to be written."

Her hand began trembling as she stifled a sob and he held her steady. She had waited for those words for so long. She looked up to him, amazed, seeing something in him that she hadn't ever before: David understood her. He had, in fact, for years. David had never shown it, but in a way he knew Regina better than anyone. He saw similarities between them—the way they defeated all odds to protect their family, their roar of passion and power, their fearlessness in the face of crisis. In fact, maybe that was why he hadn't trusted her for so many years; he also saw the worst of himself in her. But now they had both become better people, he was able to understand her and relate to her on a completely new level.

Something had changed in Regina's eyes, and she looked both stronger and more powerful.

"You ok?" he asked, and she nodded, her smile both natural and free, and David's heart warmed a bit. She was going to be okay.

"I came over to make sure you're all ready," he said, letting go of her hand and backing up a bit. He knew Regina would rather pretend their bonding moment had never happened. "Mary Margaret is still helping Emma, and, well…." He looked down. He didn't need to say 'and I felt bad because you don't have Cora' but she knew that's what he meant. His face said that he and Mary Margaret could never replace Cora but that they hoped that they could one day mean just as much.

She dabbed at her wet eyes, laughing a bit, "Well I might need to redo my makeup. But besides that, I should be ready."

There was a moment of silence, and they listened as the clock rang out in the corridor. "Fifteen minutes," he said cheekily, and the words made the panic rise up in Regina's chest again; but this time, an unfamiliar companion called joy was lodged there, too.

"Are you sure there isn't anything I can help you with?"

Well. There was one thing. But Regina was too proud to admit it in a million years.

She said no, and Charming began to leave. Worried thoughts rushed through her head as he reached for the door. She decided that was also too proud to be humiliated in front of a crowd, so she stopped him.

"Wait," she said, and he turned back before touching the door.

"Yeah?"

"I—" God. She couldn't admit this. Especially not to this cocky prick. "I can't dance." Her words were small and fragile, like an embarrassed child's.

Charming resisted the urge to laugh. She was a queen! How didn't she know how to dance? "And you're worried about dancing with Emma tonight at the reception, right?"

Regina nodded solemnly.

"But really," he added, "You've never danced? All those years in the Enchanted Forest and you're telling me you've never been to one ball?"

"I don't think anyone really fancied a dance with the Evil Queen, do you?"

There was an awkward silence. David couldn't deny that. And he also couldn't let such a strong woman go on looking so weak and feeble, so he scooped up her hand in his, and taught her to glide around the floor in long, graceful swoops. It was awkward at first, and Regina hated it with a passion and wanted to murder him, but after a while, she began to smile.

She hadn't felt safe and loved in such a long time, and now it was like having a family again. David was like her dorky little brother. Sure, she wanted to strangle the very air out of him sometimes, and yet in others nothing in the world made her feel so safe and content.

It was the first time in their entire lives that Regina and David weren't looking at each other in a competition. They weren't enemies. They weren't Prince Charming and the Evil Queen. David wasn't a hero and Regina wasn't the villain. For the first time in their whole lives, Regina and David saw themselves as equals.

The door opened an inch and Henry squeezed through, grinning madly at what he saw. He began laughing, and both parties turned to face him, slightly embarrassed that they had been caught dancing together. Henry smiled. His mom looked happy.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said with a laugh, "but you have like, five minutes until the ceremony, so I thought I'd better check that everyone's ready."

Another ache in Regina's chest. Five minutes.

Charming looked startled at the news, he hadn't expected so much time to pass, so he hurried towards the door, saying that he needed to go check on Snow and Emma. Before he opened the door he looked back and linked eyes with Regina, searching her face and making sure that she was going to be okay. He saw immediately that she was.

The door shut with a soft thud.

"Hey Mom," said Henry, and Regina almost began bawling. He looked so handsome in his suit. Like David's, it looked almost regal, like a prince's, and Regina's heart ached as she envisioned raising him in a huge castle and watching him run through the various gardens and vast castle grounds. He would have loved it.

He had never looked so grown-up in his entire life, and Regina wondered where all the time had gone.

He looked up into his mom's nervous but excited face. She looked gorgeous. Her hair was pulled back into a bun that hung at the nape of her neck, her makeup was light and natural, and she shone like a goddess in her regal white wedding dress. She looked like a queen—not an evil one, but the one she had always deserved to be.

"Mom, you look beautiful," he said excitedly, and no other compliment could ever mean more than her son's.

"Do you like it?" She asked nervously, obviously self-conscious.

"I love it."

He embraced her again, fingers holding onto her dress tightly. A heavy note hung in the air, one that Henry had been fighting for years and told himself couldn't go unanswered now. This was about to be a start of a new life. They were turning the page and finally writing their happy endings. But he couldn't find the ink to write it until he had unblocked the thing that had stood in their way for so long.

"Mom…" he began, "I just want you to know. I want you to know that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for not treating you well all those years ago, after I found out who you were. I was wrong to treat you like that back then. You were the Evil Queen, but you're also my mom, and nothing can ever change that."

The words sent every bad thing that had ever happened to Regina fleeting away. This was all she had ever longed to hear. From the first moment she had held his small body in his arms, from the first time he had ever said 'mom', to this very moment right now, all she had ever wanted was her son's complete and unconditional love—the same exact love she gave so freely to him.

"I love you mom," he said, and overwhelmed with emotion, it was a moment before Regina could say it back.

Emma sat in front of the mirror, nervous hands dancing along the wooden desk she sat at. Her mother pulled her hair sharply, probably, she assumed, to get her daughter to stop the teeth-clenching sound.

Still weaving the flowers through Emma's long, blonde hair, Mary Margaret said, "Emma, you're going to drill holes in the wood, leave the poor desk alone."

She folded her hands in her lap. After a moment, there was another _tap tap tap_ noise and Mary Margaret sighed.

The last flower had been weaved in a sort of crown across Emma's slightly sweating brow, and Snow took a moment to look at her daughter's reflection in the mirror. Her soul suddenly swelled up with emotion, and Snow couldn't breathe. How had she ever been lucky enough to witness this moment? Her mind took her back to the one night that had haunted her for more than 28 years—the day she had placed her screaming infant baby into a wardrobe. Through long nights filled with the ghost-sound of that screaming child, Snow had never dared to dream that she would be here now, weaving flowers in her daughter's hair, about to give her away to marry the Evil Queen.

Snow leaned down close to her daughter, looking her in the face. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong, Emma?" she whispered softly.

Emma didn't answer, instead carefully watching her fingers still _tap tap tapping_ across the wood.

Snow took her daughter's hand in hers, squeezing tightly. She felt like she should say something… the pensive look on her daughter's face made her stomach churn. Emma looked weak and small, and though Snow had seen her as a newborn baby, she had never seen Emma look so powerless before.

"Emma," Snow uttered in a gentle voice, "what's wrong?"

The blonde was finally kicked out of her trance, looking at her mother with huge orb-like eyes. They were shining in the sun that flooded through the window.

"What's wrong?"

And Snow could see how afraid her daughter was.

Squeezing her hand tighter, Snow urged her daughter to speak.

She watched Emma as she struggled with herself internally, trying so hard to keep her worries buried within her chest. The worries finally won, spilling out of her mouth like a waterfall.

"What if she leaves me?" Emma said, and the fragility of her voice made Snow's heart break. She wondered how many times Emma had asked this question about her foster families. She wouldn't let herself think about how many times it had proven to be true.

"She's not going to," Mary Margaret said, confidence full and happy in her voice.

"But what if she does?"

"And why would she?"

"Because I'm not good enough for her."

Snow searched her daughter's face, and again saw a scared little girl in search of someone to love her. She thought sadly about how this little girl had been put into so many homes, but never one that could tell her how important she was to someone.

"Oh honey," Snow whispered, choking on emotion and she grabbed Emma and held her as tightly as she possibly could. "Don't you ever be worried about not being good enough. Not for Regina, or me, or your father, or Henry. You're so much more than any of us had ever dreamed of."

Emma held her mother close, inhaling her warm, fresh scent and closing her eyes. She took a mental snapshot of this moment, storing it deep inside her brain where it wouldn't be forgotten.

Emma spoke softly, the sound barely audible through her mother's shoulder. "I'm scared, Mom," she said, and Snow just held her tighter. "I shouldn't have ever tried to leave. I'm so scared that none of you will trust me anymore, im so scared that you don't realize how much I love you all after I tried to run."

Snow pulled away, making Emma almost jump back with the intensity in which she stared at her. "Don't you ever say that, Emma," said Snow, her voice deadly in its seriousness. "That moment only proved to us how much you care, because you actually stayed. It made us love you more, because throughout all the years _we're_ lucky enough to be the ones worth staying for."

She rose back up, looking stunning and regal in her own dress, and kissed the top of the soft blonde head.

The door opened, and Charming walked in, looking proud as always as he watched over his two beautiful girls.

"Are you ready?" he asked, and the world stopped for one short moment as Emma realized that these next few seconds were about to change the rest of her life.

In an intense moment both full of fear and excitement for the future, she rose up, the contagious smiles of her parents further enflaming her raging heart, and walked out the door. As she stepped out of the room, and down the hallway, headed towards the beautiful gardens of Regina's mansion, she couldn't help feeling that despite everything (fighting dragons and killing monsters and defeating enemies) she had never felt such an intoxicating and thrilling sense as the uncertainty of her future in this very moment.

But despite all the things that could happen, Emma found herself smiling nervously, because she knew that at the end of the day she would always have her Queen by her side, and that was enough for Emma.

Just as she approached close enough to hear violinists playing passionately in the garden, she repeated her mother's words to herself, (something that she would do for years and years in the future when she needed strength) her very breath rising stronger in her chest because of it.

She had found something worth staying for.


	5. Happily Ever After

**_Chapter Five~_**

It was a sleepy evening, the kind in which one would cuddle up with a steaming cup of tea and hide beneath a pile of blankets, a trusty well-worn book in hand.

And that is precisely what Snow White was doing as she sat perched on her bed, flipping through the pages of a novel she had borrowed from Storybrooke's library so often that it was practically her own. The aroma of chamomile tea made her eyes begin to drift closed.

 _Rap rap rap_ came the door, startling her out of any approaching slumber.

It burst open, and the overwhelming sound of laughter came flowing into her empty house. Two of the most beautiful people in the world (in Mary Margaret's opinion at least) came stumbling in, taking off their jackets and unwinding bundled scarves. Autumn was settling in on Maine early.

Greetings were uttered ("Hey mom," "Hi Grandma") and chatter and footsteps bounced along the hardwood floors jovially. Snow never realized how truly quiet her home was until Emma and Henry came shuffling into it. Sometimes, when she let herself ponder for too long, she would think about the way her floors would never know the feeling of her young daughter's or her grandson's feet stumbling across it for the very first time, or the way her walls would never hear the sound of first words or bubbles of laughter scatter across them, or the way her window would never show them walking home from a hard day of school to eat fresh cookies her oven could never bake for them. There had been so many experiences she had missed.

She smiled with a bittersweet mix of emotion, rubbing soothing circles across her belly that was swollen with life, and thought softly to herself that finally, _finally,_ she would get all those chances back. This time, she wouldn't let her child down.

"How are you doing today Gramma?" asked Henry between a mouthful of warm, freshly-baked cookies. He had been so caring since the seven months ago they had found out about Snow's pregnancy. He'd been a huge help around the house; when he wasn't at school he'd be home with his Grandma cleaning the house and doing the tasks that became increasingly challenging the more swollen her life-full belly grew.

She got up from her rocking chair, huffing a little with the effort. "Very pregnant," she huffed, "and very ready for this baby to come out."

David walked in the front door and greeted each one of them individually. He ruffled Henry's hair, pecked Emma's cheek, and finally kissed his wife with adoring lips and rubbed her stomach softly.

"Where's Regina?" he asked, looking around the room. He hadn't thought he would ever come to this point, but it felt empty without her there; they were missing a member of their family.

Emma was busy stuffing her mouth full of another gently steaming cookie. "She said she'd meet us there, work was pretty hectic today."

"Is she sure she's not too worn out to still go?"

Emma smiled at that, picking apart her cookie thoughtfully. "Don't tell her I told you this, but I don't think she'd miss this for anything."

Even despite the cold early-autumn air, something about the night felt incredibly warm. The entire world seemed welcoming; from the twinkling stars that sat scattered across the night sky, to Snow's husband's hand held firmly within her own, to the intoxicating smell of food that wafted out of Granny's diner as they walked up the steps towards it.

The door jingled as the family entered, but Granny hadn't needed the bell to expect their arrival. Chuckling at her watch, she shook her head and wondered how they somehow managed to show up at the exact same time every Wednesday.

"Back again?" she joked in feign shock.

"You know we wouldn't miss your apple pie for the world," said David, acknowledging the scrumptious apple pie Granny baked every Wednesday night, and making her flush (just slightly).

They made their way to their normal table, the woman who already sat there grinning widely. She scooted over in the booth, making room for her wife, her son, and finally for the two crazy idiots she had somehow learned to call family.

Emma smiled at Regina fondly, silently linking hands with her. All the chaos that had been raging through her body throughout the course of a crazy day was anchored still by Emma's smooth palm. Her thumb explored Regina's hand, finally proving to the woman that _she was here_. Sometimes that was the only thing she needed to be reminded of at the end of a long day.

The four familiar voices coursed through her ears, and Regina drank them in like water. She listened quietly, laughing at Henry's re-telling of his eventful day at school, smirking at how awkward her wife was as she talked about a mishap at work, sympathizing as David complained about how impatient people could be in a service type job, and even becoming a little excited herself as Snow vented about all the expectations the new baby brought with it.

Regina's muscles relaxed under Emma's gentle grasp, and the blonde began to relax herself after realizing that her wife was at peace. She gazed at her between forkfuls, thinking wistfully about how lucky she was to have married the gorgeous brunette in front of her. She had married the most amazing woman in the world—the queen of an entire kingdom, the mayor of small town, and (most importantly) the most amazing mother to her son—but the times that she seemed the most remarkable were in every-day activities such as this.

A warmth rushed through her body as she stroked the ring she had placed on Regina's finger more than a year ago. They weren't perfect, but they were happy, and Emma knew that happiness was much more important than perfection.

Finally the pie was served, and the table sat in silence as they could no longer process anything but the delicious taste of crisp, flaky crust, warm apples dosed in cinnamon, and creamy vanilla ice cream.

Henry looked up at his family, and he smiled.

Snow White. Prince Charming. The Evil Queen. The Savior.

He'd read about them in his storybook, he had heard their legends, he had even seen their deeds in action.

But tonight, that isn't who they were.

They weren't storybook characters.

They were Emma, Regina, Mary Margaret, and David. They were his grandma, his grandpa, and his two mothers; and they were his family.

His brain couldn't quite wrap around the fact of how lucky they were to have found each other, and for one perfect moment, Henry felt completely at peace with the world.

It wasn't the end of their stories—it wasn't anywhere close—and Henry was sure that there would be more heartache and hard times in the future. But as he stared across the table at four beautiful, shining faces—the four lives out of seven billion that Henry had been lucky enough to be brought into—he felt certain that this was the beginning of their happy ending.

A universal warmth was passed around the table, as five souls linked in their little union, pulsing together in the knowledge that no matter what life was to throw at them in the future, they would rise up to the task together. And for once in their lives, the world was at peace.

 ** _Author's Note~_**

 _ **Author's Note~**_ Once again, thank you all for all your reads, likes, and comments! I love you all,  & your unwavering support means the world to me! Kisses to all of you ❤x I would just like to give credit to the video "Swan Queen | AU | Kiss Me [ +5x02 ]" by MandyHartzler on YouTube ( watch?v=nb6yu5ponoo&list=PLbVoql6uwv1spAi35kgyt2KnO-hfz_twB&index=3 ). I saw the video, and i thought it was really sweet but also really emotional, because i thought that it really displayed the way the Charming Swan Mills family was supposed to be. After watching the video (on repeat about five times) i was overwhelmed with emotion and was inspired to write this little story. Some of the plot is loosely based around the plot of the video, so credit to the creator. I hope you don't mind my borrowing your ideas, and thank you so much again for the inspiration!

Happy reading everyone!


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